TURKS, CONQUESTS and the CRUSADES (1 of 4)
The Saffarid Dynasty; the Seljuk Turks against the First Crusade; Saladin and the Second and Third Crusades;
Mideast divisions before the coming of Genghis Khan
Seljuk empire at its greatest, 1092 CE. It's stay at the gates of Constantinople was brief.
The Arab conquest of Iran put onto Iran an Islamic internationalism, with an international language: Arabic. A part of the fragmentation of Abbasid rule in the 800s and 900s was the rise of a dynasty over what is commonly called a principality, although calling the ruler a prince is hardly appropriate. The ruler of the principality was Ya'qub Laith Saffari. He began as a coppersmith, became a leader of men and a warlord, ruling in southeastern Iran. From there he conquered through Afghanistan and into half of what today is Pakistan. His capital was Zaranj, on the Iran-Afghan border. He promoted Persian culture. He re-established use of the Persian language in official correspondence and was a patron of Persian literature, ending the pervasive use of Arabic, which helped make him a folk-hero. Where he conquered, people often rebelled against their Islamic overlords and reverted to their pre-Islamic worship.
Ya'qub was the first to move militarily against Baghdad's caliph -- the preeminent caliph -- Baghdad having replace Damascus which had replaced Medina. The armies of the Baghdad caliph, Mu'tamid, repelled his attacks.
After Ya'qub Saffar, the Saffarid dynasty weakened, and it came to an end in 1003. There were other conquerors who would push against his "principality."
A rival principality arose in 874. It was ruled by the Samanids, named after its founder Saman Khuda of the late 700s, and a convert to the Sunni branc of Islam. The caliph at Baghdad had appointed his four grandsons as rulers in Transoxiana -- in Samarkand, Ferghana, Shash and Ustrushana, and Herat -- as a reward for suppressing a revolt against his authority. This was the beginning of Samanid rule, led in its glory by Saman Khuda's great grandson, Ismail Samani from 892-907. Samanid rule was carved from their struggle with the Saffarids. Samanid rule extended from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea to the Arabian Sea. Its capital was Bukhara, east of the Oxus River.
Samanid authorities proclaimed the language of their realm to be Persian, and the Samanid kings to be Persian kings. ]Samanid rule promoted Persian literature, and in conjunction with the Baghdad caliph they promoted the Sunni branch of Islam and their missionary work is said to have spread Islam among the Turkish populations in the realm. The Samanid court attracted Persian scientists and poets, among them Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
Samanid rule was in part clan-rule, dominating cities and supported by a professional army, the core of which were Turkish slaves or mercenaries. It fell apart in 999 as a result weakness from Samanid family quarrels over -- as you might guess -- succession quarreling accompanied by an attack by Persianized Turks in the northern part of the Transoxiana region.
A new dynasty was begun by a slave-warrior, Sabuktigin. He had been born around 942, taken as a prisoner during a local conflict between tribes and sold as a slave to a merchant who sold him to Alptigin, the Turkish Lord Chamberlain of the Samani ruler of Khurasan. Sabuktigin gained as Alptigin rebelled against the Saminids and extended his military rule to Ghazni, in what today is Afghanistan. Alpitigin made Sabuktigin a general and married his daughter to him. Sabuktigin served two of Alptigin's successors and in 977 became ruler himself. From Ghazni he extended his rule to what today is Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan and into India. His was the Ghaznavid dynasty.
Territory ruled by the Ghaznavid Turks was raided from the east by Turks led by the Seljuk family. The Seljuks were converts to Islam. They were devout Sunni Muslims, influenced by the Nestorian Christianity that had been driven to the east by intolerance. The Seljuks were pastoral, therefore nomadic and with a strong warrior tradition. Seljuk raiding was resisted by the Ghaznavids, and this led to the Battle of Dandanaqan in the year 1040, won by the Seljuks.
Seljuk warriors appeared in Armenia and Syria and the Seljuk ruler, Togrul, was on his way to Baghdad. There he was welcomed in 1055 by the caliphate, al-Qa'im, who sought their support against his rival, the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt, against whom he had been warring. The Fatimid caliphate ruled Jerusalem. Togrul defended Qa'im against Fatimid forces who had imprisoned al-Qa'im in 1058. Togrul defeated the Fatimids and freed al-Qa'im.
The Seljuks were of a tribal tradition that did not include experience ruling agricultural societies or empire. They needed educated people to help them govern the agricultural societies that they had conquered. They turned to fellow Muslims reputed to be learned and wise in Islamic law, to local ulama -- guardians of Islamic tradition -- to educate them on rightful rule. The ulama accepted the Seljuk having taken power by the sword. They viewed a regime that was capable militarily as beneficial to their community's interests: as necessary for the protection of trade routes and to protect villages from Bedouins and bandits. The ulama lacked the means to employ policing violence themselves and looked to the Seljuks to repress factional strife and to arbiter disputes.
Attaching themselves to the conquerors, Islamic intellectuals became hired servants in state administration and an imperial governing class.
The Baghdad caliphate entered into a similar relationship with the conquerors. He was of service to the Seljuks because of his prestige with the general population and his giving the conquerors a sense of legitimacy. And the Seljuks were of use to him because of their military power and ability to use force to maintain law and order. The conqueror acquired the title sultan while the caliph remained in name the commander of the faithful.
The Seljuks moved against Byzantine forces at the Battle of Manzikertin in Armenia in 1071 on a decades-long advance to the gates of Constantinople. In 1077 the Seljuks took control of Jerusalem. Constantinople's emperor, Alexius, was eager for an ally in the form of mercenary soldiers against the Seljuks, and for this in 1095 he appealed to Rome's pope, Urban II. The Pope saw the Holy Land as having been profaned, and he organized what became known as the First Crusade -- more than Alexius had wanted.
Jerusalem had been ruled by the Fatimid caliph in Egypt. It had become a place of burial for Muslim dignitaries and attracted Sufi mystics, Islamic law scholars and Karaite and rabbanite Jews. Under Seljuk rule it attracted Crusaders, followers of Jesus Christ, with sword in hand.
Copyright © 2009-2011 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.
